XXV: Royal Aberdeen

There are places in golf which permeate an intangible and inimitable class, where history is felt, the game is at the forefront and the feeling of being a part of something special reverberates. Steeped in history and tradition, the ninth oldest club in golf and a course laid out in 1888, there are few which stand shoulder to shoulder with Royal Aberdeen. Endlessly fascinating, a tour of the clubhouse walls reveals a its links to the origins of the game, intertwined with a deep championship lineage of British Amateurs, Walker Cups, Senior Open Championships and the Scottish Open – a testament to its ability to remain relevant as a test of golf 140 years down the line.

The spectacular scenes of Royal Aberdeen's first tee

The gateway to magic and laced with irrational fear, first tees are one of golf’s great enigmas. From the confines of our homes and desks they are the place we most yearn for, yet club in hand, tee in the ground and one of the world’s great walks at our feet, we can’t get off that block quick enough…. Water, houses, cars and even the occasional railway line spike heart rates, but nothing pumps blood harder than the piercing of eyeballs. Pressed so hard to the glass of the clubhouse that I had to check my backswing and ripe for the gazes of the membership, Royal Aberdeen’s magical opening shot out to sea can be one of the game’s most intimidating and a cracking launch pad to a world-beating front-side.

Rumpled fairways weave between the dunes

Royal Aberdeen’s front nine is one of mythical lore and often prescribed amongst the finest in the country. A rollercoaster traditional out and back layout, the opening side is pressed flush up against a hulking wall of dunes dividing the crashing waves from the wonderful rumples of tumbling fairways. Exhilarating, natural, rugged seaside golf is the order of the front nine as ribbons of fairway slice and dive through the dunes, delivering a smorgasbord of links golf’s finest delicacies.

With a distinct freedom, holes flow across the terrain, their primary defence a combination of the severe land it traverses and a littering of sandy traps rising from the ground. Fairways framed by thick fescue seemingly pinch at every landing area and the random bumps and hollows kick balls every which way – the ideal unfairness of a proper links. Few stretches on the planet elevate the senses, overwhelm the mind and flow as seamlessly as Royal Aberdeen’s jaunt to the far end of the property.

Elevated tees open up long views across the links

On their own, large dunes and rolling fairway contours can be the bones of an excellent layout, however a piece of land which combines the two creates compelling layers of natural variation. Early on Royal Aberdeen uses the larger dunes to elevate a handful of tees in the opening stretch - the stunning seaward first strike and threading one between the dunes of the second, however most notably at the pair of spectacular one-shotters. Perched atop a dune rising from the beach, the setting of the third is magical, wild and exposed to a heavy wind at your back – a rare 200-yard par three which questions your ability to stop the ball on the surface rather than reach it. In contrast, the devilish eighth is short, scary and attractive, its long narrow green suffocated by 10 pots brings with a brilliant hit the shot or else moment at the perfect point in the round.

The treacherous 8th

Wild fairway ripples short of the green characterise the thrilling driveable fourth- ensuring an eagle putt is both earned and granted, and the crumpled landing zones of the tee shots at six and nine provide anything but a guaranteed fairway hit. For two hours of hold onto your hat golf, any ball in the air sits in the lap of the gods – is there a more thrilling and frustrating version of the game? Green complexes sit naturally on the land, receptive to the running shot, and the compact punchbowl at the end of the sixth was an unexpected flash of quirk. With variety this wide, Royal Aberdeen’s land poses questions which command creativity, control and a decent amount of fortune. Inspiring, beautiful and gripping the front nine leaves little room to question its countless admirers.

Wild, rugged and truly magnificent!

Perhaps a victim of its own unanimously adored front nine, the closing side’s merits are often subject of debate and malign. Winding its way inland atop an elevated section of more docile land, naked and exposed to the elements, the flatter homeward nine is largely absent of the characterfully random formations of the front side. Adopting a rather stern personality and following up the previous two hours of thrills, spills and drama with flatter land dead into the wind, it’s of little wonder than the subtleties of the second half are swept under the rug.

What I found was a far more interesting and complete series of holes than I had been led to believe. Boasting an array of interesting green complexes, four blind tee balls, a variety of hazards which elevate the less-than-ideal site, and incredible long views out to sea and across the sunken front side. Naturally, when there is a disparity in the quality of land this wide, there is going to be a drop in the allure and quality of the golf, however with plenty of strategy and a likely more demanding sequence of shots into the wind, this is a far from weak stretch. I was particularly enamored with the closing duo – the 17th playing back to the sea, completes an excellent set of par threes and may well be the best of the lot, its steep drop-off left signalling immediate death. Strong, stout and brawny would best describe the home hole, its fairway crossing a trio of gullies and leading to a raised, heavily bunkered green – a fitting ending to one of Scotland’s greatest tests.

The one-shotter at 17 is the pick of the back 9

Authentic, genuine links which reach the dizzying heights of Royal Aberdeen are few and far between. With the first two hours loaded with the thrills of choppy land forms, wild golf shots and towering dunes and the closing stretch presenting such a demanding test of golf, Royal Aberdeen’s bi-polar personality brought with it the type of variety that makes links golf so interesting. For better or worse, often times the land dictates the golf and despite its limitations, Royal Aberdeen strikes the ideal balance across both sides.